2020 Awards Eligibility

I have a few things eligible for 2020 awards. The short version: A BEGINNING AT THE END (novel), DISTURBANCE (short story), and various geek articles (fan writer).

First A BEGINNING AT THE END, a hopeful post-pandemic story that earned 3 starred reviews. This review from Tor sums it up beautifully:

The thing is, the world is always ending. The apocalypse might not be a single event but a series. We are always on the brink of the end of the world. That doesn’t mean we give up, stop helping each other, stop loving each other. Sometimes, that’s all we can do. Sometimes, those are the most important acts. Though he’s writing about mortality on a personal and global scale, Chen never, ever sinks into despair. This book is never bleak. Instead, hope reverberates through every character and plotline. It’s never saccharine, it doesn’t come easy, but it rings true, and it’s how we keep putting one foot in front of the other. Even here, at the end of all things.

Next, DISTURBANCE (eligible for short story awards) for Star Wars: From A Certain Point Of View -- The Empire Strikes Back. This story is a dive into the mind of Emperor Palpatine as he detects a disturbance in the Force that reveals Vader's secret desire. (Also, the audio version is narrated by
Sam Witwer and it's brilliant)

And for fan writer, here are some of my geek media pieces over the year.

First, a look at how we introduced my daughter to Star Wars using the Machete Order on Nerdist.

Another example: Jean-Luc Picard as Starfleet's hopepunk captain on StarTrek.com.

And for The Portalist, why Death Stranding's emphasis on community and connection in the face of unspeakable loss is the perfect pandemic gaming experience.

Copyright   Mike Chen. All rights reserved.